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Wow. It has been a long time since we had a celeb meltdown as good as this.
Between this, the incident with his mother in London just before "The Dark Knight" premiere, and other incidents, I would say that Bale has Anger issues.
Yeah, the DP should not have gotten into his line of vision, but still...
And this just adds to my dislike of McG, the director of this film. The guy on the tape comes off like milkwater. He cannot control his own set, something any director has to do.
One of the entertaining celeb incidents lately.

I wonder how rich and famous you need to be before you can act like a complete tit like that and get away with it.

__________________"Faith without doubt leads to moral arrogance, the eternal pratfall of the religiously convinced" - Joe Klein, Time magazine

"The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown." - Carl Sagan

If it would have been a brief ourburst of a few sentences, no big deal. But go to into a five minute rant..that indicates some problems with anger.
But I guess he thinks he can do what he wants because he is the Goddamn Batman...

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And while we're at it, how about the famous Orson Welles frozen peas meltdown. You really get what a twisted genius he was. "You don't know what I'm up against. It's full of .. of .. of things that are only correct because they're grammatical. But it's tough on the ear ... unpleasant to read; unrewarding"

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Christian Bale blows up with the Director of Photograph steps into his line of vision on the set of "Terminator:Salvation".

Uh, it's not a smart move to tick off the camera department. They can make the actor's day a rough one. Say the actor gives a great take... the camera guys go, "Ooops, sorry, hair in the gate. We need another take." So the actor pours out another great take... the camera guys go, "Ooops, sorry, that one was soft. We need to go again." Repeat as needed. And then there's the fact that they can make any actor look terrible on film by lighting them the wrong way.

Don't tick off the camera department, folks.

Originally Posted by dudalb

If James Cameron was directing this film with Christian Bale, only one would be alive by now,since Cameron has the reputation of having a temper on set like The Incredible Hulk....

The stories about Cameron on set are legendary, no doubt. Though in a recent interview here on the CBC show The Hour, Cameron more or less admits to being something of an s.o.b. on set, but says he has a better attitude now and saw the errors in his old ways.

__________________"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve
to organize and measure the best of our abilities and skills, because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and
one which we intend to win."

Uh, it's not a smart move to tick off the camera department. They can make the actor's day a rough one. Say the actor gives a great take... the camera guys go, "Ooops, sorry, hair in the gate. We need another take." So the actor pours out another great take... the camera guys go, "Ooops, sorry, that one was soft. We need to go again." Repeat as needed. And then there's the fact that they can make any actor look terrible on film by lighting them the wrong way.

Don't tick off the camera department, folks.

Sounds like subtle sabotage. I don't think any camera department will be trying that with Christian Bale. Apparently, he fights back. And in the famous words of the Glenn Ford character in The Violent Men, "Don't force me to fight, because you won't like my way of fightin'"

I remember reading a magazine interview with Bale in which IIRC he more or less said he really disliked acting and only did it to make the very good living that it gives him.
It was surprising, and kind of refreshing, because nearly all of them twonk on about it being an art they're so devoted to, and endeavour to present it as something profound blah blah..etc.
Hope that's accurate. Wouldn't want to create a Bale Straw Man

Sounds like subtle sabotage. I don't think any camera department will be trying that with Christian Bale.

Don't treat the camera department like dirt, because if you do, you're liable to find shooting will start going more slowly and there'll be all kinds of technical issues. A good camera operator and a good D.O.P. can save hours of production time on a film set—this is especially true when the director is inexperienced or otherwise subpar. Treat the camera guys badly, and they're not going to have much reason to offer those time- and money-saving ideas and techniques.

__________________"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve
to organize and measure the best of our abilities and skills, because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and
one which we intend to win."

__________________"People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless." - Investors Business Daily

It's worth hearing the whole story on these sorts of things. One of the Assistant Directors (and also executive producer, but his role as an AD is more relevant here) has said that Bale was normally completely professional on the shoot and simply lost it for a few moments at the end of a very long hard day, and after that was perfectly fine again.

Some of you are also misrepresenting the situation somewhat. The Director of Photography walked onto the set and into the shot during a take to make an adjustment to a light. From what Bale said, this was not the first time this had happened, and there was an issue with this DP constantly moving about during a take.

If a low-level crew member did something like that there's a good chance they'd be fired on the spot. It's an absolute no-no. You NEVER walk into shot during a take.

Bear in mind this happened during filming of one of the most drama-intensive scenes of the entire film. While some actors have this surreal ability to snap in and out of character, most actors have to go through a process of descending into their character, and for some it can be quite hard to do, and hard to maintain. We've all heard legendary stories of actors who were so "in the moment" that they did things in character that were not intended. Martin Sheen smashing the mirror in Apocalypse Now, and Juliette Lewis breaking Tom Sizemore's nose in Natural Born Killers.

I can imagine an actor being irate at a crew member for screwing up a dramatic scene - it takes hours to set up a shot and get everything exactly right, and even though you can do multiple takes, once you get that one performance/shot that nails it, you will never, ever get that same perfect shot again.

If that particular crew member has screwed up shots previously, and if that crew member is a HOD who should know better, and if the actor is tired and stressed by a hard day's work and perhaps the recent untimely death of a fellow actor, yeah, I can imagine the actor losing it and biting the guy's head off.

This sort of thing is actually pretty common. As as 2nd AD I once had to interrupt a very angry argument between a Producer and Director to tell the Director to get on set so we could start shooting. At final technical rehearsals for a stage production of Les Miserables me and the entire rest of the cast hastily made our way out of the auditorium when the director and stage manager started an outright screaming match with each other.

In those sorts of highly strung close-proximity situations, people lose it. True professionals are the ones that get over it quickly, move on, and keep working. We have no evidence that Bale held any sort of grudge against the DP - he even says in the rant he's a good guy.

Let's not judge too soon.

(By the way, the OP doesn't make it clear, but this incident happened months ago - the news is that audio of the incident has just emerged)

A few thoughts. It's bad, but I don't think it's as bad as everyone suggests. People talk worse in construction, the military, and some offices. People are interested in Bale's meltdown because he's rich, famous, talented and good looking. That's why he's interesting -- I suppose -- and why fans think his behavior is somehow justified, which is crazy. The best comment I heard is to imagine if a woman had gone off on such a rant. She'd be universally condemned as a ****-bitch from hell. Anyway, I bet that guy didn't walk into his sight-line again.

Uh, it's not a smart move to tick off the camera department. They can make the actor's day a rough one. Say the actor gives a great take... the camera guys go, "Ooops, sorry, hair in the gate. We need another take." So the actor pours out another great take... the camera guys go, "Ooops, sorry, that one was soft. We need to go again." Repeat as needed. And then there's the fact that they can make any actor look terrible on film by lighting them the wrong way.

I very much doubt a Focus Puller with start doing that sort of crap to back up a DP. DPs generally come through the lighting department, not Camera, and Shane Hurlbut is no exception.

Aside from that, in my experience Focus Pullers are the most precise, technical capable, and professional people on a film set. It comes with the job.

Now the lighting department, yeah I could see them doing crap like that.

Originally Posted by Corsair 115

The stories about Cameron on set are legendary, no doubt. Though in a recent interview here on the CBC show The Hour, Cameron more or less admits to being something of an s.o.b. on set, but says he has a better attitude now and saw the errors in his old ways.

How recent? My friend worked with him on Avatar last year and said the guy's a total ass-wipe.

The best comment I heard is to imagine if a woman had gone off on such a rant. She'd be universally condemned as a ****-bitch from hell.

Actresses do that sort of thing far more often than actors, in my experience. And they're far more likely to hold a grudge. Samantha Morton decided she didn't like Vincent Ward on River Queen and nearly destroyed the film as a result.

If something like that happened during an intense scene of a film, I would expect either an actor, or the director, or maybe the 1st AD to go off like that. Perhaps not for that long, but I'd expect plenty of swearing and threats that they get fired.

I very much doubt a Focus Puller with start doing that sort of crap to back up a DP. DPs generally come through the lighting department, not Camera, and Shane Hurlbut is no exception.

Depends on who hired who and if they've all worked together before, and the size of the crew involved and the scale of the shoot.

Originally Posted by gumboot

How recent? My friend worked with him on Avatar last year and said the guy's a total ass-wipe.

It was rerun here a few weeks back. Not sure when it was taped, probably back in the summer I think. Cameron was in Toronto as he had received a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame.

__________________"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve
to organize and measure the best of our abilities and skills, because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and
one which we intend to win."

When I heard this clip, the first thing I thought was how much he stuck with the American accent during the rant (although some UK did slip in there). If I was flying off the handle, I probably wouldn't put too much thought into talking like the guy I'm acting. But then again, when Bale was promoting Batman, he didn't speak in a Welsh accent during the entire time and had the nameplate on his trailer read "Bruce Wayne."

When I heard this clip, the first thing I thought was how much he stuck with the American accent during the rant (although some UK did slip in there). If I was flying off the handle, I probably wouldn't put too much thought into talking like the guy I'm acting. But then again, when Bale was promoting Batman, he didn't speak in a Welsh accent during the entire time and had the nameplate on his trailer read "Bruce Wayne."

He's apparently a pretty full-on method actor who really gets into his role.

1) He's an intense actor, hired for that trait.
2) There was a provocation
3) He complains about the provocation, he doesn't globalize that much
4) He wants to get back to work

(5) ? again, it matters a good deal what was being said back to him--the worst thing you can do with someone who is upset like this is not to take him seriously

Er, "he wants to get back to work"?

You didn't listen to the clip, I see. Since he did anything but get back to work, as the other guy tried to placate him and get back to work, just as mentioned. Bale would "calm down" for a second, then come back, getting worse and worse, eventually threatening to do physical harm to him.

So strike 4. As for 3, I'm pretty sure the provocation wasn't worth "kicking his ass". In fact, takes get ruined all the time. What the hell do you think blooper reels are for?

The "mitigating circumstances" just seems like an excuse to apologize for the rich/famous. The response didn't match the provocation, I can't get away with insulting and physically threatening a coworker just because I'm "intense" (even if I landed an acting gig), unless I somehow got incredibly famous/rich, and 4 is just outright wrong.

You didn't listen to the clip, I see. Since he did anything but get back to work, as the other guy tried to placate him and get back to work, just as mentioned. Bale would "calm down" for a second, then come back, getting worse and worse, eventually threatening to do physical harm to him.

So strike 4. As for 3, I'm pretty sure the provocation wasn't worth "kicking his ass". In fact, takes get ruined all the time. What the hell do you think blooper reels are for?

The "mitigating circumstances" just seems like an excuse to apologize for the rich/famous. The response didn't match the provocation, I can't get away with insulting and physically threatening a coworker just because I'm "intense" (even if I landed an acting gig), unless I somehow got incredibly famous/rich, and 4 is just outright wrong.

I did in fact listen to the clip, and he says several times, let's do another take. I read his behavior as being psyched, stressed, and impatient.

McEnroe was far more obnoxious than this.

Gumboot has already spoken to the way things are done on set. The norm for behavior is not the same as the norm for an office. This doesn't excuse whatever his behavior was, but it also speaks to one of the main issues here: People who are used to polite conversation and a high degree of inhibition are going to be a little shocked or perhaps envious. Someone dropped his smiley face!

Whether he was actually threatening (in the physical sense) is not there for us to see--that's a matter of who was standing where, conveying what body language.

Anger occurs in time. You get angry, you're that way for a minute or two.

Perhaps he's an asshat--I have no idea from this clip.

I'm not going to go back and listen again--unless there's some serious issue about who said what that would change things. Once was enough. If we want to get into close reading, I think we should transcribe it. Turn up the gain enough, we can hear both sides of the conversation, although not what led up to it. But I'm not going to do this, unless I'm really desperate for something to do.

My scorn is reserved for the 6 O'clock News types who were chortling over this, enjoying it, and pulling out cliches like "Someone is going to need to attend his anger management classes!"

These are the people I fear, not the "bullies" or "temperamental" types.

Yeah, ruined the scene. So horrible. They'd have to do it over again. That's never happened before; egads.

People have done less over issues of road rage, or after an accident.

Its not like he pulled out a gun. He screamed at the guy who was interrupting a shoot. A shoot costs about $3,000 per hour on a sound stage if I recall correctly. So you screw up a scene (and this was the SECOND time the same person did it) and it costs money.

__________________For what doth it profit a man, to fix one bug, but crash the system?